When your meticulously planned attempt at bank robbery is cut short. // Close enough. // Under London. // When men lactate. // LSD ‘microdosing’ is apparently a thing now. // Planet X is cloaked. // Plus one. // Pedal cars of yore. // Showbiz. // Hombre. // Birth of the camera phone. // Feel my babies. // Place your bets. // On Britain’s collective tea-making menace. // Animated bodies. // Paper puppets. // 1970s Spider-Man. // Cityscapes of note. // Tornado. // Storm. // Squirrel combing. // “A flight in China was delayed for five hours after an elderly passenger threw coins into the aircraft’s engine for good luck.” // And finally, rather pleasingly, “When a security developer was contacted by an IRS phone scammer, he decided to do more than simply ignore their call.”
As contemporary "art" has been frequently discussed here, it appears the "artists" may soon be redundant because of Artificial Intelligence painters.
Judging by the examples at the link, I think the AI comes off as more original and aesthetically pleasing, with the added benefit of no tedious thesis about the pieces, and no odd looking humans hawking their "works".
Posted by: Farnsworth M. Muldoon | June 30, 2017 at 00:33
“When a security developer was contacted by an IRS phone scammer, he decided to do more than simply ignore their call.”
Total hero.
Posted by: Jen | June 30, 2017 at 06:18
Total hero.
Judging by the number of views, he does seem to have struck a chord with the public.
Posted by: David | June 30, 2017 at 06:35
Testity-test-test
(New hd, fresh Windows install - it's been a fun day)
Posted by: Spiny Norman | June 30, 2017 at 06:58
How to cook noodles.
Posted by: David | June 30, 2017 at 06:59
Cool kid communism.
Posted by: David | June 30, 2017 at 07:20
Re "Place your bets" I would like to vote for 'all of them'. Pack the whole shoddy enterprise up, burn the evidence then piss off and never bother us again.
Posted by: MC | June 30, 2017 at 07:26
Pack the whole shoddy enterprise up, burn the evidence then piss off and never bother us again.
Not a fan, then?
Posted by: David | June 30, 2017 at 07:28
This.
Posted by: Joan | June 30, 2017 at 07:29
Total hero.
He also ruins the day of tech support scammers.
The reactions of the scammers are interesting. They often sound indignant, as if the belated pushback were in no way deserved. As if their own behaviour were perfectly respectable.
Posted by: David | June 30, 2017 at 07:57
Not a fan, then?
Really not. Never in human history has so much guff been generated from so few ideas.
Posted by: MC | June 30, 2017 at 08:30
The LSD microdosing story was very interesting. I used to recreationally take LSD quite a lot, about 10-15 years ago. I never found myself hallucinating dragons or similar, although sometimes things that were really there behaved rather strangely. And occasionally I'd lose the ability to form words, so lost the interior monologue, which is a bit unnerving...
The most interest effect was 'seeing' what was there very intensely. Trees seemed to pulse with life, sometimes I felt I could count every leaf. Music was amazing, I could hear a world of sound in a single beat.
What I felt seems quite similar to the intensity and connectedness Burke feels.
I'm glad people are experimenting with LSD; I believe it and ecstasy have a lot of positive potential. I am certainly very glad that I have tried both.
Posted by: MC | June 30, 2017 at 08:52
I used to recreationally take LSD quite a lot, about 10-15 years ago.
Suddenly my readership is starting to make sense.
Posted by: David | June 30, 2017 at 09:04
“A flight in China was delayed for five hours after an elderly passenger threw coins into the aircraft’s engine for good luck.”
Did it work?
I'll get my coat.
Posted by: Sam | June 30, 2017 at 12:15
Did it work?
Well, the plane didn't crash, so I'd say yes.
Posted by: jabrwok | June 30, 2017 at 14:25
I only took LSD once and it was well over 30 years ago but what MC says about being able to count every leaf on every tree is my strongest memory of the experience.
Posted by: George | June 30, 2017 at 14:39
what MC says about being able to count every leaf on every tree is my strongest memory of the experience.
I once used it in a studio. Everything sounded shiny, spatious and endlessly fascinating, which isn’t necessarily a good way to get anything done. And operating recording equipment became hilariously difficult.
Posted by: David | June 30, 2017 at 14:49
Here I am, a respectable middle-aged man sitting in an airport departure lounge waiting to get home to my family after the best part of a week of important meetings and it's all your fault that I find myself wondering where I might be able to score a tab of acid...
Posted by: George | June 30, 2017 at 15:06
I know, no refunds, credit note only...
Posted by: George | June 30, 2017 at 15:07
I know, no refunds, credit note only...
I’m glad you’re taking my teachings to heart.
Posted by: David | June 30, 2017 at 15:12
Ever get around to counting the leaves on that bodhi tree, Master?
Posted by: George | June 30, 2017 at 15:16
Student hygiene. And comradeship.
Posted by: David | June 30, 2017 at 15:17
It’s hard to argue with Glenn Reynolds’ comment here.
Posted by: David | June 30, 2017 at 15:24
Think she has a chance?
Posted by: Darleen | June 30, 2017 at 15:56
Think she has a chance?
Heh. I believe that’s what’s called a generation gap.
Posted by: David | June 30, 2017 at 15:58
So men can lactate. Now I'm wondering if women can get boners.
Posted by: Dom | June 30, 2017 at 17:04
More first world problems, Let's Get Ready To Rummmmmmmmmble ! Report: Teenager Killed in Transgender Gang Feud
That is not intersectionalism, that is a four interstate merge cloverleaf.
Now I'm wondering if women can get boners.
Technically, yes, as the clitoris is erectile tissue that is embryonically homologous to the glans penis as they both
ariseare derived from the same fetal tissue.Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | June 30, 2017 at 17:23
The question is, was it consensual ?
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | June 30, 2017 at 17:34
I can honestly say I didn’t expect the words transgender gang feud to crop up today.
Posted by: David | June 30, 2017 at 18:00
I can honestly say I didn’t expect the words transgender gang feud to crop up today.
As surprising as that was, personally speaking, I was a bit more taken aback by the event concerning the squash.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | June 30, 2017 at 18:41
I was a bit more taken aback by the event concerning the squash.
Oh I dunno. Over the years, we’ve seen quite a few niche appetites.
Posted by: David | June 30, 2017 at 19:00
I can honestly say I didn’t expect the words transgender gang feud to crop up today.
That is indeed a horrible headline, rather begging actual correlation. Basic Googlemancy does turn up a minor improvement, but one is still left hearing an editor going Oooh!! Oooh!!! How many buzzwords can we throw into this before reality catches us?!?!?!
---I'm rather reminded of the occurrences where some loony in his fifties shoots one coworker, the coworker survives and the loony gets arrested, the loony hasn't touched a firearm in decades, and back when the loony was eighteen, the loony joined the military. Resulting headline; Ex-Marine Workplace Massacre!!!!!
Posted by: Hal | June 30, 2017 at 19:02
Hmph.
There.
Posted by: Hal | June 30, 2017 at 19:05
Chorus: Slash before eye between less than and greater.
Posted by: Hal | June 30, 2017 at 19:07
[ Taps enormous sign above bar. ]
Preview is your friend.
Posted by: David | June 30, 2017 at 19:07
Over the years, we’ve seen quite a few niche appetites.
OK, you beat me with the cow slurry, but I can say I learned something about cow farming today, however, regarding Mr. Ransier.
Right, what's all this then ?
Speaking of cars, for fellow gearheads, Live stream of Goodwood.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | June 30, 2017 at 19:15
OK, you beat me with the cow slurry,
Also unexpected.
Posted by: Rafi | June 30, 2017 at 19:44
BTWI,[Black Transwomen, Inc.] our brother organization Black Transmen, Inc
Our "brother organization"? Uh..erhm...eh...huh?
Posted by: WTP | June 30, 2017 at 19:52
Would be better with a David Attenborough voice-over:
https://twitter.com/WorldOfSporf/status/861109205490683905
Posted by: ftumch | July 01, 2017 at 01:25
I think microdosing is the wrong word. A normal amount of LSD is already in micrograms. So, maybe ... nanodosing, picodosing, femtodosing, etc.
Posted by: RTW | July 01, 2017 at 05:58
Journalism.
Via Ace.
Posted by: David | July 01, 2017 at 11:12
It's been years since I regularly travelled on The Tube, looking at the Deeper Underground video made me realise how clean and bright it is now days, I bet even the rats wear ties.
Posted by: Runcie Balspune | July 01, 2017 at 11:37
looking at the Deeper Underground video made me realise how clean and bright it is now
I fear you, and the video, may be overselling its charm.
Posted by: David | July 01, 2017 at 11:56
...I bet even the rats wear ties.
Well, the mice certainly don't.
Posted by: Trevor | July 01, 2017 at 14:52
"I regularly travelled on The Tube"
I'm never going to do that because I saw An American Werewolf in London.
Posted by: PiperPaul | July 01, 2017 at 15:14
I bet even the rats wear ties.
Oh, so that explains Westminster finally catching up with everyone else . . . .
Posted by: Hal | July 01, 2017 at 17:46
"Now I'm wondering if women can get boners."
They can if they are male-to-female transgerdered who didn't get snipped...
Posted by: champ | July 01, 2017 at 21:56
I vote we outlaw all transgender "news" stories on grounds they're boring, not to mention, confusing. Often I honestly can't figure out which sex the subject is pretending to be.
Posted by: Pogonip | July 01, 2017 at 22:18
The background to "Spiders on Drugs".
https://thetyee.ca/Life/2007/01/10/WoodSpider/
Cheers
Posted by: J.M. Heinrichs | July 02, 2017 at 07:12